banjo puppets

Thanks to everyone who came out to the craft sales in December - they were really a whole lot of fun amidst the chaos, and I met many great people who make amazing things.

The popcorn monsters sold like crazy - and I started to get some photos from people who bought them. There's nothing I love more than getting pictures from happy puppet people. I think my favourite is the white one in the flowers - trying to remain motionless so no one will see him.

I also opened a wee store on etsy - not too much on there yet, but I hope to add a couple things every day, so keep watching for new stuff. This is where I'd like to sell some higher end one-of-a-kind stuff too. www.banjopuppets.etsy.com

(image) On October 24 I got the opportunity to hang out at the Puppetmongers studio - this time to take a 3 day masterclass with Peter Balkwill of the Old Trout Puppet Workshop from Calgary. We were 10 students with diverse backgrounds, but all with a keen interest in puppetry.(image) We were lead through different Suzuki movement exercises which created a heightened sense of awareness of our bodies and the space around us. Lots of walking exercises concentrating on group awareness. We used masks to explore impulse articulation, playing with rising and falling tension and the break in between. We created simple puppets in pairs out of newspaper and masking tape, and worked collaboratively with the other groups to put a story together.I think what I got the most out of was the simplifying of movements. There can be a lot of clutter when we're trying to convey an idea through physical movement, and it's the most effective when the movement is simple and clean.(image) We had discussions on the definition of a puppet, (strange how hard that is when you get right down to it), how groups work together, what our roles often are in group collaboration, and how to write effective grant proposals for puppet productions.In the end we all performed our short puppet pieces for the group - often to a background of random and unexpected music. On Friday the rest of the Old Trout team came and had a Forum about their creative process, scripting and design of their recent production, Famous Puppet Death Scenes. This is an amazing show, and the workshop was fantastic - three days showed us just the beginning of what was possible in collaborative puppet theatre.

(image) (image) The last weekend in September this year found me in Peterborough surrounded by fantastic weather, great food, amazing people, and of course, puppets.I had the opportunity to sell my wares at the focus fair on Hunter Street, which ended the week-long arts festival in town. As usual, the gumball monsters and the mini monsters sold quickly, and soon little coloured furballs could be seen on various hands down the street.

(image) The Paddling Puppeteers also did their shoreline review show to a captive audience, where my Cathy Dueck puppet made a special appearance.

This is truly my favourite time of year, and has inspired me to visit Peterborough much more frequently. Thanks so much to everyone who helped me out - I'm coming back soon.